


The Eyes Are Everything

by Vampykitty_kun



Category: Batman (Comics), Batman - All Media Types, Red Robin (Comics)
Genre: Explosions, Flashbacks, M/M, Major Character Injury, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-16
Updated: 2014-05-16
Packaged: 2018-01-24 23:44:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,063
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1621316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vampykitty_kun/pseuds/Vampykitty_kun
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They had not realized the danger until he was staring the counter in the face, frozen in terror, with ten measly seconds ticking down.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Eyes Are Everything

**Author's Note:**

  * For [mythoughtfulwindow123](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts?recipient=mythoughtfulwindow123).



When Tim opened his eyes the amount of relief that coursed through his body was indescribable. His heart skipped a beat, or two, and the sigh of relief escaped Jason’s throat sounding ragged and choked. The teen let out a low groan and made an attempt to sit up that failed horribly.

Too close. It had been much too close…

Jason pulled himself up onto his knees and chanced a weary look behind him to survey the damage. The tunnels were in shambles. A thick cloud of dust lingered in the air and the ground was littered in debris. A cement slab of wall had just narrowly missed flattening them, held upright on a seemingly impossible angle by a buckling pipe system that hardly looked as though it would last much longer.

They had gotten little warning that the chamber had been rigged to blow. They had been far too preoccupied with biting each other’s heads off after finding themselves both after the same perp, with vastly different objectives and ideas of how to get him off of the streets, that they had not realized the danger until he was staring the counter in the face frozen in terror with ten measly seconds ticking down.

He felt pathetic. Angry that he had just shut down, that his lungs had ceased to function, and he had almost allowed himself to die the very same death _again,_ amidst a terribly realistic flashback that still had his heart hammering in his chest.

And Tim…Tim had _saved_ him, risked his life to drag him away on unresponsive legs, when he could have- _should_ have gotten the hell out of there as fast as he could have instead of getting caught in the blast with him. He had managed to get them far enough away, in just the right area of the catacombs, that they had made it by the skin of their teeth.

Not that they hadn’t acquired their fair share of damage. He ears were ringing, his temple was oozing, and he was pretty sure that he was going to have to stay off his bad leg for a week or so again, on top of the various scrapes, bruises, broken bones, and burns that had occurred, and Tim… Tim still had yet to right himself and assure him that he was stable, and those pipes were _really_ beginning to look unstable.

Jason winced as he scooted forward and placed a hand on Tim’s shoulder. The teen met his gaze and cracked a small weary smile.

“You good? We need to move. No if, ands, or buts about it. The rest of it is gonna come crashing down and it’s probably best if we aren’t directly under it when it does.”

Tim gave a hesitant nod, and managed to prop himself up onto an elbow as Jason shakily rose to his feet. Sure enough, his knee was barking at him, and he swayed momentarily while he worked through the pain. He reached down and offered a hand, which Tim welcomed, and helped hoist him to his feet. Much to his chagrin, the Red Robin immediately began to sag in his hold, and he was forced to wrap an arm around his waist to keep him steady as they stumbled their way out of immediate danger. Outside of their overhang the rubble was thick and awkward to navigate through, and he tired easily holding most of Tim’s weight.

He stopped for a breather twenty feet out and sat the teen down on a collapsed slab to look him over. Tim was favoring his right side, and appeared dazed, concussion he figured. He winced as his ribs were prodded, and although he had been unable to hold his own weight, his legs appeared unscathed. Jason fumbled in his pockets for a small flashlight and shown it at Tim’s eyes watching his pupils. As he expected, their reaction was poor, and he cursed to himself.

He glanced around, searching for the nearest possible exit, which proved difficult now that the terrain had changed and several areas had caved in. He shuddered looking over all of the damage and resorted to shaking his head and squeezing his eyes shut to get over himself.

Abruptly, Tim chuckled, and Jason snapped his head back around to stare at him worriedly, only for the teen to look upon him fondly.

“Seriously, you okay?” He prompted, brow furrowing.

Tim nodded and tilted his head beaming up at him.

“Your eyes are really nice, you know that?”

And that was when he decided that regardless of the fucked up thoughts running through his head, he _really_ needed to get them out of there, and deposit the kid in Dickie’s arms so he could get morbid with himself in peace. The amount of fondness radiating from Tim was becoming unnerving, and if he wanted to avoid having a clinging meltdown with the ‘Replacement’ he was going to have to remove himself from that trauma induced affection stat.

Forty minutes later they were surface level, his everything was killing him, and Tim had talked his ear off about anything and everything to the point that he truly did not want to know, and he was suppressing the urge to plant his fist in Dick’s cowled face with the shit he had apparently pulled with the teen over the past year.

Eventually he opted for the neutral exchange- the _best_ decision, all things considered.

When he dropped Tim at Barbara’s doorstep he explained the night’s events leading up to that point. She appeared to already know that Tim had been searching for the man from earlier, and seemed to believe the story he told, so much so that in the end, much to his surprise, she hugged him before sending him on his way. Something that was far more comforting than he could have imagined.

He watched from a distant rooftop as Dick arrived sometime later, and had to give the man credit for leaving the demon spawn behind for this one, as he likely would have made things worse and/or would have flat out put Tim out of his misery.

It was only after their departure that he set off for one of his safe houses, traveling slowly, careful to not strain himself any more than necessary.

It was going to be a long night.

 


End file.
